I Promise
by Ketsui Tasogare
Summary: After Naruto gets wounded on a mission tracking Sasuke; Sakura finds him and they have a serious conversation.


**I Promise**

After Naruto gets wounded on a mission tracking Sasuke; Sakura find him and they have a serious conversation.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Naruto characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

It was just after midnight and the moonlight was devoured by the thick grey clouds that took over the night time sky. Soon after thunder roared across the land and bolts of light lightning blinded anyone foolish enough to look up at the sky that poured with rain. The low lying areas of the forest in the unknown land began to flood.

Naruto groaned in pain as he held his hand over his deep wound that ran diagonally down his chest and oozed blood that was rinsed off his clothes as the rain beat down on him. He laid down on the ground, motionless for the pain and cold numbed his body and he had almost no chakra left. His breathing became more laboured and his eyes drooped as he thought about how he got into that situation.

 _Earlier that night he had been tailing Sasuke, trying to find out where he was hiding. He had stayed a reasonable distance behind him to avoid being noticed. Sasuke travelled at lightning fast speeds as he tried to lose Naruto. He had discovered he had been followed hours ago. He was just playing with Naruto as he jumped from tree to tree with a smirk firmly planted on his face. The last thing he wanted was a fight with Naruto ever since Orochimaru told him about what happened at Tenchi Bridge, and witnessed for himself that the seal containing the Nine-Tail Fox was even more unstable. He wasn't afraid—that was the last thing he was—of fighting Naruto, he just didn't want to lose chakra on unnecessary battles._

 _The both of them had been running for hours, until Sasuke suddenly stopped therefore Naruto followed suit. He carefully watched Sasuke, who stood motionless, staring into the distance. Naruto slowly and quietly moved a little closer to him to get a better view of what he was doing. Just when Naruto got as close as possible, Sasuke disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He had been chasing a shadow-clone the entire time._

 _In the blink of an eye, the real Sasuke sent a mind-blowing punch into Naruto's stomach and knocked the wind right out of him, sending him flying into the nearest tree. Sasuke's strength was unreal. He heard a crack as he hit the tree and fell to the ground. He slowly got up and clutched onto his right shoulder that throbbed endlessly. His vision hadn't completely focused as he saw a blurry version of Sasuke running at full speed towards him. Naruto stood in a fighting stance and managed to jump out of the way when Sasuke sent a fire-ball into the tree._

 _Whilst in mid-air Naruto watched the tree get engulfed by the flames and realized too late that Sasuke was behind him. He sent another punch towards Naruto but he managed to block it before he punched Sasuke in the face—hard. A sharp pain pierced through Naruto's shoulder and made him close his eyes as he winced in pain, which gave Sasuke an opportunity to use the Chidori on Naruto and sent him into the ground with a bloody wound down his left arm. Sasuke landed on the branch of a nearby tree and watched Naruto disappear in a cloud of smoke._

" _Just a shadow-clone, huh?" he said in his head. Meanwhile Naruto was crouched down behind a tree, trying to control his breathing, when suddenly the real Sasuke appeared from underground and grabbed Naruto around the neck and slammed him against the tree. Naruto tried to break free from his choked position but couldn't._

" _Sorry Naruto, but you can't know where I'm going." He told him with a smirk on his face before he pulled out his Katana and sent his Chidori through it, like lightning running down a conductor. He tightly gripped onto the hilt of his Katana and pierced it through Naruto's skin and slashed a diagonal line through his chest. Naruto sent a terrifyingly pained scream as Sasuke lacerated him slowly and left him for dead. Naruto tried to ease the pain and stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the wound. Soon after, thick grey clouds rolled in and a storm started. He had no energy to move or find shelter, so he stayed where he was and waited for whatever was to happen to happen. He closed his eyes and listened to the rain pour over him._

His entire body shivered and he felt a headache soon approaching. That's when he heard it, a soft voice coming from far away, calling his name. He tried to figure out if he was dreaming or not and realised that the voice he heard was real.

"…aruto? Naruto can you hear me?" the voice got louder and louder each passing minute. It was Sakura's voice; Naruto hoped she would find him because he didn't have the will power to call out to her. He heard her footsteps growing louder as they splashed against the wet ground, until they stopped right in front of him. She wore her Chunin uniform and was as drenched as he was. She looked down at him with pain, concern and guilt etched into her face as she bent down and helped him up and supported him.

They slowly walked to a nearby cave; the journey was terribly painful for Naruto as his wound burned like fire on his skin. He sat down slowly, still clutching his wound and watched Sakura start a fire. She then sat down in front of him and began medical Ninjutsu and healing his lacerations. He winced in pain every few minutes as Sakura healed him. It took a good 30 minutes to completely heal both wounds. After Sakura dried Naruto's clothes in front of the fire, they both agreed to head back to the village in the morning when the rain stopped.

Sakura had been awfully quiet since she found Naruto half-conscious an hour and a half ago. He noticed it immediately and noticed that she'd barely made eye contact with him. He had to find out what the problem was.

"Sakura, why won't you look at me?" he half whispered. She gave no response

"Look, I know I failed to bring Sasuke back again, but I haven't given up…" he once again waited for a response but didn't receive one. He was desperate to have her speak to him. He could handle anyone else angry at him, but not her. She was the most important person to him.

"Sakura I'm sorry." He whispered as he looked down. A single tear slid down her face. Naruto had it backwards, she wasn't angry at him in the slightest. She reserved that anger for herself. She felt unbelievably guilty for making him feel the way he did. She finally looked up at him, the tears never leaving the corners of her eyes but threatened to cascade down her cheeks.

"Naruto I'm not angry at you at all. I'm so sorry for making you feel like I was. If there's anyone I'm angry at it's me. All of this is my fault; I wasn't strong enough to stop Sasuke when he left the village. I was the one that asked you to bring him back to me; and look what happened, you almost died…" the tears that hung precariously on the bottom eyelids; had long since escaped her eyes only to be replaced by new tears that sliding down her cheeks.

"It seems like all I do is cry and ask you to take care of the rest. I felt so guilty and scared for your life when I found you. The first question that came to mind was: what if I hadn't found you when I did? I would have lost you, all because I wasn't strong enough." Naruto looked at her with eyes of surprise and understanding. He was surprised by her feelings and relieved that she wasn't angry at him and he understood how she felt; the two most important people in her life were standing against each other.

Both stood on opposite sides of the line and their constant fighting took its toll on Sakura. It was like a tug-of-war; she never knew which side she wanted. She loved them both the same amount, but for very different reasons. Naruto was like a brother to her; he was funny, sweet, cute, and a little slow sometimes but he was the most determined and amazing person she'd ever had the privilege of having in her life.

And then there was Sasuke Uchiha: brilliant, clever, talented, shut off and broody. The last two things weren't very inviting but despite all that he was still very special to her. He was more than a comrade; he was a friend and a member of the original squad 7. He would always have a special place in her heart and that's why she would never give up on him. No matter how much he pushed her away or how far gone he was, she would never stop until she had him back.

"Naruto can you ever forgive me?" she looked at the ground as she spoke. Naruto sighed before he put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up at him and saw the friendly grin on his face and couldn't help but smile herself. She put her arms around him and held him in a warm embrace. She smiled when she felt him put his arms around her. They remained embraced in each other's arms for a few minutes until Naruto broke the hug. He took Sakura's hands and guided them along his chest until they stopped where his heart was. She felt the rhythm of his heart beat and looked up at Naruto.

"Do you feel that Sakura?" she nodded in response.

"As long as my heart is beating, I will never stop trying to bring Sasuke back. Together we will bring him back to us, I promise!"


End file.
